Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Cool! That makes sense. I also have seen and read that some people place a filter in bed where water comes in. Is this needed or suggested?

Hey Pinoy, the filtration in the grow bed is only necessary if you feel that the grow beds aren't removing enough solids from the water. Rather let it run for a while without it, you can always add filtration later if you need it.

If you're stocking tilapia they're pretty tough so they are more forgiving when it comes to mistakes and bad water quality.

Regards, Martin.

Demolition in sandals! Now that's a tough man! Hey, I love the concept of the fridges! I'm going to keep an eye on this thread! Good work :-)

Not needed.

Sometimes a sock or a bit of filter tissue is temporarily placed under the water inlet in brand new systems when the water in the fish tank is very murky with fine settlements, which can help clear the water up a bit (eggwhite also helps in this situation).

But no, you want the fish poop landing into the growbed where it can break down naturally. Less work for you too this way.

Makes sense. One thing that i notice is that matter is settling on the bottom, guessing it is fish waste, does/would this effect system?

To avoid solids settling on the bottom, people often use a Solids Lifting Outlet, or SLO. There are many threads that explain it's construction.

Thanks for the info.

Whew...Got to go back to the drawing board... This throws a wrench into mix... hmmm got to figure outs sump and another pump it looks like...

Can you post a photo of the problem?

We might be able to give some suggestions

lots of systems have a layer of bio slime etc in the FT, not necessarily a problem.

in an ideal world we would have round tanks with conical bottoms,

but we have make do with what we have.

The problem is just the fish waste hanging out on the bottom of the tank... Papa and I thought since the pumps have a inlet attachment, attach a hose once and once a week "vacuum"it up to beds. Just typing aloud... But once can only think that it would be bad for the pump long term...

Yep, the old vaccum-siphon would clear it out nice and quick.. then you could use it on your soil beds to give them a boost

You may not even need the pump to vaccum, just a simple manual hose siphon eg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U_HO6z6LaY

Look you're always going to have a bit of crap gathering in the bottom of your fridge fish tank, particularly as it's got lots of funny raised bits on the bottom, but don't worry too much about it

One method is to get your drain pipes to drain towards the sides of the fish tank, creating a whirlpool effect. This helps the solids to settle in the middle of the tank, where you would place the pump. You need a fair bit of water turnover to get this effect to happen tho

Totally forgot about that method, but my tanks are lower in the ground so doesnt work. :/

Ya there are little things I will do to change when I implement on government level. Which would be more on a commercial scale, so cant screw up! haha

uuuumm scoop net?

Hi Manny, mate if you take the principal of an SLO and apply it to your situation with a pump you should be able to automatically remove the solids. I haven't tried, seen or heard of it but i can't see why you couldn't get something like a 20 litre bucket, drill holes in it right at the bottom of the walls, sit it in the middle of you FT and sit the pump in it. Most of the solids should be drawn through into the bucket where they would be pumped to the GB's.
You could also pimp it up by adding an arm or network of arms out of pipe with holes in them across the bottom of the tank into the bucket. See my SLO design in pic, it works an absolute treat, i have never swept the bottom of my tank and there is very little of anything on the bottom of my tank.

Thanks Kitacooch!

I have been looking at different SLO system but i havent found a way to add to my system....
Also I dont want to purchase another pump since i am already over budget since i just bought a generator. Is there a way to operate SLO with out an extra pump? Or a simple solution?

I might just resort to "vacuuming" waste through pumps once a week, for a weekly task...

But i am thinking of a way...

Water test kit came in mail the other day but i am at seminar until the 1st of march. I hope papa is taking care of everything. Little worried about seedlings and bacteria... sigh cant wait to return home!!!


PinoyPCV